6 Foods and Drinks to Avoid with Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic disease that has reached epidemic proportions among adults and children worldwide.

Uncontrolled diabetes has many serious consequences, including heart disease, kidney disease, blindness, and other complications.

Prediabetes has also been linked to these conditions.

Importantly, eating certain foods can raise your blood sugar and insulin levels and promote inflammation, which may increase your risk of disease.

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages

Sugary beverages are the worst drink choice for someone with diabetes.

First, they’re very high in carbs, with a 12-ounce (354-mL) can of cola providing 38.5 grams.

In addition, these drinks are loaded with fructose, which is strongly linked to insulin resistance and diabetes. Indeed, studies suggest that consuming sugar-sweetened beverages may increase the risk of diabetes-related conditions like fatty liver disease

In separate studies in adults with overweight and obesity, consuming 25% of calories from high fructose beverages on a weight-maintaining diet led to increased insulin resistance and belly fat, lower metabolic rate, and worse heart health markers

Trans Fats

Artificial trans fats are extremely unhealthy.

They’re created by adding hydrogen to unsaturated fatty acids to make them more stable.

Trans fats are found in margarines, peanut butter, spreads, creamers, and frozen dinners. Furthermore, food manufacturers often add them to crackers, muffins, and other baked goods to help extend a product’s shelf life.

While more research is needed to gain a clearer understanding of the relationship between trans fats and insulin resistance, the links mentioned above are especially concerning for people with diabetes, as they’re at an increased risk of heart disease.

Fruit-Flavored Yogurt

Plain yogurt can be a good option for people with diabetes. However, fruit-flavored varieties are a very different story.

Flavored yogurts are typically made from nonfat or low fat milk and loaded with carbs and sugar.

In fact, a 1-cup (245-gram) serving of fruit-flavored yogurt may contain almost 31 grams of sugar, meaning nearly 61% of its calories come from sugar.

Many people consider frozen yogurt to be a healthy alternative to ice cream. However, it can contain just as much or even more sugar than ice cream.

Rather than choosing high sugar yogurts that can spike your blood sugar and insulin, opt for plain, whole milk yogurt that contains no sugar and may be beneficial for your appetite, weight control, and gut health

Honey, Agave Nectar, and Maple Syrup

People with diabetes often try to minimize their intake of white table sugar, as well as treats like candy, cookies, and pie.

However, other forms of sugar can also cause blood sugar spikes. These include brown sugar and “natural” sugars such as honey, agave nectar, and maple syrup.

Although these sweeteners aren’t highly processed, they contain at least as many carbs as white sugar. In fact, most contain even more.

In one study, people with prediabetes experienced similar increases in blood sugar, insulin, and inflammatory markers regardless of whether they consumed 1.7 ounces (50 grams) of white sugar or honey

Dried Fruit

Fruit is a great source of several important vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C and potassium.

When fruit is dried, the process results in a loss of water that leads to even higher concentrations of these nutrients.

Unfortunately, its sugar content becomes more concentrated as well.

If you have diabetes, you don’t have to give up fruit altogether. Sticking to low sugar fruits, such as fresh berries or a small apple, can provide health benefits while keeping your blood sugar in the target range.

Packaged Snack Foods

Pretzels, crackers, and other packaged foods aren’t good snack choices.

They’re typically made with refined flour and provide few nutrients, although they have plenty of fast-digesting carbs that can rapidly raise blood sugar.

In fact, some of these foods may contain even more carbs than stated on their nutrition label. One study found that snack foods provide 7.7% more carbs, on average, than the label states.

If you get hungry in between meals, it’s better to eat nuts or a few low carb vegetables with an ounce of cheese.